The NextGen Partnership Meaning and Relevance

On Friday Sorrento published two press releases, the 1st about it's new partnership with NextGen NK, a Competency Center (and not a Competence Center, that is just a bad translation from Swedish probably, which Sorrento PR wasn't careful to double check. Small detail, but Sorrento needs better PR people...). A Competency Center is simply an institution that brings together experts or companies from a specific field so that they can work together, almost always on innovations. First let's see how important this NextGen center is, if at all.

OK, so this is a new institution, set up in 2020. Therefore it's hard to say it has a history of success. But, the names assembled, the companies forming part of this center, are really some of the top-of-the-class companies in technologies related to, or that can be applied to NK cell therapy.

What is NK cell therapy? NK stands for Natural Killer (sounds like a movie title. For once, scientists chose a simple and practical name...). So these cells naturally attack malignant cells. Like tumor cells. What differentiates NK cells is they don't need a stimulus. They don't need to be activated so to speak. They have a killer instinct. So in theory, it's an easier path to attacking certain tumors, once the technology to create an efficient NK cell therapy will be in place. That's what NextGen NK is set up for: a place where different technologies come together to produce this sought after new therapy.

Of course, there is also a business aspect to all this, and in that sense, the main advantage of this partnership, for sure, is the business relationship part of it. Because the NextGen team of partners is made of several small, clinical stage companies, and one giant: Sanofi. Sanofi is a worldwide top-ten pharma company by any measure, and I have no doubt it hasn't become part of this team of much, much smaller companies by chance. So this is an excellent opportunity for Sorrento to develop relationships and presence in Europe, and it's pretty clear that Sanofi itself will welcome a partnership with these high-end smaller companies as soon as some potential product comes up, and Sorrento has a few such products to offer.

As for the research itself: Sorrento will provide its know-how in CAR and DAR technology. That is the tech it's using to develop its CD38 pipeline. To better understand this technology, you can read my post about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/srne/comments/nbd17e/srne\_is\_ahead\_of\_the\_pack\_that\_is\_ahead\_of\_the/

Basically the idea is to replace the T cell CAR/DAR technology for NK cell CAR/DAR solutions. The bottom line expressed in the press release is: " to establish novel allogeneic, off-the-shelf, retargeted NK cell-based therapies".

Translating to simple language: To create new, readily available therapies, based on cells from donors (that is why Sorrento's antibody library is needed here), specifically Natural Killer cells that are modified (retargeted) to attack a specific type of tumor.

Bottom line: scientifically this is a long term partnership and we shouldn't expect any revenue-producing news from this in the near future.

In terms of a partnership, this is a very important open door through which Sorrento can partner with a top-ten Pharma giant plus strengthen its presence in Europe. Furthermore, it can become a partner in the development of therapies that already have ongoing trials and in that sense expand the pipeline through partnerships with a shorter path to approvals and revenue.

As for the 2nd press release: basically what it is saying is: the phase 1 trial is showing good results. At this stage we will be making a presentation to other scientists (a poster presentation) and share some of the scientific data that we have about this trial. The good news about the trial isn't news at all. This trial already was showing positive results. The news is that there will be a presentation. It basically means the trial is going very well and it opens up the possibility of other scientists in that field to participate in phase 2 trials (such as certain hospitals, etc.). And perhaps other partnerships that could use this technology on a different set of tumors. It isn't groundbreaking news. But it is good news nonetheless.